


dreams are sweet until they’re not

by sunshine_and_safety (person_with_a_pen)



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Comfort, Gen, Hot Chocolate, Nightmares, also i love frosta so much, and she deserves respect so much, and should absolutely not be treated as just some kid, because hot chocolate makes everything better, because she is so much more than that, but also she is eleven and has just fought in a war, i think im making a bigger deal of the hot chocolate than it is, is that even a tag?, let her have her friends and hot chocolate, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:01:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24773557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/person_with_a_pen/pseuds/sunshine_and_safety
Summary: In which Frosta has a nightmare, Glimmer isn’t as bad at feelings as she thinks she is, and people drink hot chocolate.
Relationships: Bow & Frosta (She-Ra), Frosta & Glimmer (She-Ra)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 30





	dreams are sweet until they’re not

**Author's Note:**

> title from Flowers from the musical Hadestown. if you dont actually want to read the fic you can absolutely gush about musicals in the comments i will do it with you :).  
> This fic definitely isn’t my best work, but also there is a criminal lack of Frosta in this fandom and i wanted to try and help fix that.

** Frosta **

It starts with the palace collapsing around her. Rubble rains down, and she sees her parents- her  _parents_! _Please, no wait, I’m right here!_ _-_ but then they disappear under falling stone and explosions, and the last things Frosta sees of them is condescending faces, disappointed and derisive of her power. She forms ice fists, but they  _ aren’t working, why isn’t her power working, what’s happening? _

The rubble morphs into an army of clones, uniformly mindless and terrifying, and then to all the other princesses, chips embedded in their necks, even Glimmer and Adora and everyone, and  _oh no oh no_ they’re turning on her \- wait. Frosta cries out in fear and shock and relief as the chips disappear and their eyes regain colour. 

But they’re somehow still advancing on her: Glimmer’s fists wreathed with purple; Bow’s arrow nocked; She-Ra wielding her sword; Mermista with a tsunami of water; Perfuma followed by creeping green tendrils, devoid of flowers; even Entrapta, despite her normal avoidance of all non tech-related things, is tapping away to control a menacing army of robots; Scorpia’s stinger is raised, electricity arcing through it; Catra’s claws are out; Spinnarella and Netossa are working together, the married couple bouncing their powers off each other to create spinning whirlwinds of lashing rope. Frosta has never seen any of them look so angry before, not even during the final battle. Their faces are twisted in wrath, and now Glimmer’s dad King Micah is there too, as well as the talking rainbow horse named Swift Wind- in fact, Frosta can see nearly everyone she’s ever met in their rapidly advancing ranks. And their anger is directed at _her_.

Frosta screams, loud and visceral in her panic, and abruptly tumbles off her bed.

Her bed. In her room. In the castle. Because she was dreaming. Right.

Frosta detangles herself slowly from the covers and moves to turn on the lights. A shadow flickers in the corner of her eye and she turns on instinct, slamming it with ice and leaping for the light switch. An entire corner in of the room is encased in ice, and the shadow turns out to be a few dresses fluttering in a slight breeze from the window. The window that has now been covered in ice. Oops.

There are still goosebumps on her arms, and still terror in the pit of her stomach, but Frosta is a grown-up, powerful, responsible princess who isn’t afraid of anything, and she is just fine on her own. Yes, the room is still too big and empty, and yes, she is still very much on edge and afraid people are about to sneak up on her and stab her or something, but you know what, she can handle it. 

Then suddenly something moves to her right and oh dear, now that corner of her room is covered in ice too. 

Maybe she should go find someone else until she calms down.

-

After the final battle, a lot of the princesses had elected to remain in Bright Moon. Mermista and Sea Hawk were the first to decide to stay, as Salineas was still in tatters, and all its former citizens had a large camp near the castle where they were happily staying. Perfuma was back in Plumeria, but she stayed in Bright Moon half the time when she wasn’t ruling there, so Frosta isn’t sure it really counts. Scorpia, Catra and all the other former Horde members were living in Bright Moon, as was Entrapta, as she had been asked to help improve everyone’s tech and had a lab in Bright Moon where she could work and make explosions (“For science!”) to her heart’s content. Hordak was working with her as her lab partner, under strict scrutiny from the guards. Frosta was the last to decide to remain in Bright Moon; she did still have a kingdom to rule, but it was sometimes hard and really lonely, and the Kingdom of Snows was still recovering from the war, and Frosta just really wanted to be with her friends, so she had appointed a few of her most trusted advisors to help rule in her stead, although Frosta still checked in with them daily.

So when she clambers back onto her bed, pretending that she hasn’t just frozen half her room in terror on reflex, she has plenty of people to go to. 

Her first instinct is Glimmer; the older girl is almost a sister to Frosta at this point- well, really all of the princesses (and Bow) are a family- but Frosta looks up to her and wants her respect too much to go to her late at night with her face tearstained and afraid. So Glimmer is out, and for that reason so are Bow and Adora (and Catra, since she and Adora are now dating). Next is Mermista, also like everyone’s big sister, albeit with a disproportionate amount of “Ugh”s and “Whatever”s. But, Frosta remembers, Mermista is out in town with Sea Hawk and won’t be back until around one or two o’clock in the morning, and it’s around eleven thirty now. Frosta is too on edge to wait until then, so she moves on to the next person on her mental list: Perfuma. She has a calming and peaceful atmosphere about her, which Frosta could really use right now, except she’s in Plumeria tonight, and Scorpia, the next on the list (she gives great hugs), has gone to help too. 

Ah. That’s everyone. Well, except Netossa and Spinnarella or Swift Wind, but Frosta doesn’t know the couple well enough to go to them after a nightmare, and she isn’t going to Swift Wind for obvious reasons, the main one being he’s a horse. Also because he hasn’t quite got the hang of tact yet.

Well, Frosta reasons, it’s fine. She can survive one night on her own. She is nearly twelve and she is super strong and she is not going to panic, okay! She clicks the lights off and returns to her bed, pulling the duvet around her protectively. When she finally does quiet the fear bubbling in her chest and slips back off to sleep, the nightmare resumes in full forces, and she wakes again, fifteen minute lates, sobbing and shaking and _so so_ scared. 

Glimmer it is.

She tiptoes over to the door, pulling her duvet around her. The door doesn’t creak when she opens it, and Frosta lets out a silent huff of relief when there is no one in the corridor too. Now all she needs todo is find Glimmer’s room, a task a lot harder in the dark. 

Two corridors along, Frosta finally thinks she’s found it. “Glimmer,” she whispers, knocking on the door gently, “Glimmer? Are you there?”

“Huh?” comes a familiar voice from inside. Good, she has the right room. The door opens and Glimmer beckons Frosta in, distracted with something on her tablet. Inside the room, the lights are still on and Glimmer is seated at a desk by the wall; she clearly hasn’t yet gone to bed. It’s Glimmer, though, no green eyes or anger in sight, and something inside Frosta she didn’t even know was afraid relaxes in relief.

“Frosta?” Glimmer asks, looking up. “What are you doing up? Is something wrong?” 

Frosta abruptly drops her duvet from around her shoulders, realising how it looks, and says defensively, “No! I was just... keeping watch, that’s all, and I thought I’d make sure everything was okay in here.” She strides over to the window and stares out at the dark ground below. She doesn’t turn around; she can’t face Glimmer seeing the tear tracks on her cheeks and her red eyes, although she logically knows Glimmer has already seen them.

“Okay, Frosta,” Glimmer says gently. Then: “I don’t think there’s anything out there. Do you want to come join me over here?” 

Frosta pauses. Considers. Then something moves outside (it’s only a tree moving in the wind) and her stomach lurches, and it makes up her mind for her. She doesn’t say anything, just wraps herself in her blankets once more and goes to sit by Glimmer.

Before either of them can say anything, someone knocks on the door.

————————————————

**Glimmer**

Glimmer is busy working on an aid distribution plan (which kingdoms were most affected and need the most help; how much can we afford to send?) because she desperately needs it done by the meeting tomorrow and she  has to prove what a good queen she is to her dad because he’s alive(!), when there is a quiet knock on her door. Glimmer immediately goes into panic mode- is something happening? Is somone hurt?- but before she can spiral too much, a small voice asks “Glimmer? Are you there?”

She teleports over, pulls the door open and teleports back in time tocatch the precariously balanced tablet before it falls. “Huh?” she calls to the voice, beckoning them in, and looks up to see Frosta, cuddled in a duvet and looking smaller than usual. Frosta’s eyes are red and she has clearly been crying. 

It’s quite late for her to be up, and Glimmer asks, “What’s wrong?” before she can think better of it- the younger girl is probably too proud to answer straight out. Sure enough, the response is, “I was on watch,” and there is enough of a hesitation to let Glimmer know Frosta is very much making that up on the spot. 

Striding over to the window, Frosta faces away from Glimmer, and she takes the opportunity to quickly tap out a quick text to Bow: ‘ _Frosta in my room, maybe had nightmare? Something is definitely up pls come over, u r better at feelings.’_

“Okay, Frosta,” Glimmer appeases out loud. Then, tentatively, she gently says, “Do you want to come join me over here?”

There is a pause, and Glimmer is immediately afraid she has said something wrong- Bow is the one who is good at feelings; Glimmer is loving and loyal but she is also stubborn and nowhere near as good at dealing with people as Bow. She has been working on being a good friend and she knows she is caring and kind, but this is uncharted territory. 

Then Frosta grabs her bedcovers and wraps them around herself, shuffling over to join Glimmer on thesoft beanbags next to her desk. 

Before she can say anything, Bow arrives. Glimmer calls, “Come in,” immediately in response, and seeing Frosta tense, tells her, “It’s just Bow, I recognise his knock.”

“Hey,” Bow greets. 

“Hey Bow,” Glimmer says cheerfully. Hoping he plays along, she then asks, “What’s up?” 

With a subtle glance at Frosta, Bow walks further into the room to join them, saying, “Oh, I just had a nightmare, so I wanted to come for some company and make sure you were okay. I’m not disturbing you two, am I?” Yeah, Glimmer’s boyfriend is the best. 

“Not at all,” Glimmer says pleasantly, smiling at him. “Anyway, you never have to apologise for wanting company after a nightmare, it’s absolutely alright.” 

Frosta’s shoulders relax minutely; Glimmer was right about it being a nightmare then. 

“Great,” Bow says, smiling at both of them. “Hey, Frosta.” 

“Hi Bow,” Frosta greets. Her voice is a little sniffly, and Glimmer badly wants to hug her, but she refrains. 

“Well, you’re in luck, because Frosta was actually just on watch, so we know nothing can hurt you here,” Glimmer says, which is a little heavy handed, perhaps, but whatever, it’s late and she’s tired, alright? 

“Mmm,” agrees Bow, “and I know it wasn’t real, but it is reassuring to check people are okay, isn’t it? And anyway, I know nothing can happen to me here in Bright Moon.” 

“I know, I always like to have company after a nightmare too.” 

Glimmer watches as Frosta relaxes further. Whether it’s subtle or not (not, definitely not), at least it’s working.

There is a long pause, which Glimmer and Bow fill with a few games of Sword, Powers, Shield, (and Glimmer cannot get over the fact Adora calls it Bot, Shield, Laser), until Frosta finally says, all in a rush, “I had a nightmare.” 

“Do you want to talk about it?” offers Bow. 

“I don’t know because I really like you guys and I was worried that you wouldn’t want to be my friend as much ‘cause I’m younger than you and I haven’t really had very many friends before and I’m not as powerful as you or Adora but I was scared and now I’m less worried because you guys have nightmares too but also I don’t really want to talk about it,” Frosta blurts in one breath. Then, because that was too many feelings, she adds defensively, “And I’m still super strong and even though I’m younger I don’t need anyone to protect me.” 

“Of course,” Bow agrees, sincerely. 

“I was just... scared,” Frosta finishes. 

Glimmer takes a breath. Then she says, hoping it’s the right thing to say, “Everyone gets scared sometimes, and everyone has nightmares too. It’s okay. We would never not want to be friends with you because of that- I love being friends with you! We know that you aren’t just a little kid, and it’s still okay to be scared sometimes. We still like you and we still respect you.” 

Frosta pauses, and suddenly Glimmer is being squeezed tightly in a hug from the younger girl. “Thanks, Glimmer,” says Frosta into her side. 

“Now,” Glimmer suggests, “how about we go wake my dad up to make hot chocolate?” 

“Ooh, yes please,” Frosta says excitedly, at the time as Bow’s “I love hot chocolate!” 

Glimmer is glad she and her father have a much better relationship than at the beginning, when neither of them really knew what to do or say. Because now, she can teleport them all to grab midnight snacks and her dad will help, and Glimmer is grateful she is comfortable enough with him to wake him up late. 

“Dad,” she whispers, by his ear. 

“What?” he asks, still half asleep. She teleports with him to where Bow and Frosta are waiting in the kitchens. “Hot chocolate?” they chorus. 

“Sure,” he agrees, slightly confused but going along with it. “Hi, Bow. Hi, Frosta.” 

“Hi, old man,” Frosta says, but it is only teasing now, with none of the bite. “Can we help you make it?” 

“Sure,” Micah agrees. 

When they all have mugs, complete with marshmallows and whipped cream, and in Bow’s case, a pinch of cinnamon (“Sacrilege,” Glimmer had whispered as he stirred the drink), they head back to their rooms. “Goodnight,” Bow says cheerfully to Micah. 

“Night, Bow,” he responds, his parent instincts kicking in with: “Don’t spill it everywhere.” 

“Goodnight, Dad,” Glimmer says, hugging him. “Goodnight, Glimmer,” he responds. 

“Goodnight, old man,” Frosta says, but she hugs him too, whispering, “Thanks for the hot chocolate.” 

“You’re welcome,” he whispers back, and then, just as Glimmer is about to teleport them away, a teasing, “Kiddo.” 

“Hmph,” Frosta says, but she looks a lot happier than when she had come into Glimmer’s room, teary and afraid. 

The three of them have a sleepover in Glimmer’s room, after carefully checking the windows are locked and no one can get in. 

“Goodnight,” whispers Bow through a yawn, half asleep already. “Love you.” 

“Goodnight,” responds Glimmer. “Love you.” 

“Goodnight,” Frosta says. After a pause, she adds, “And thank you.”

There is a pause.

Finally, in the darkness, there is a quiet, whispered, all-in-a-rush, “I think you’re my best friends, love you.” 

Then Frosta and Bow’s breathing evens out into sleep, and Glimmer finally falls asleep too.

**Author's Note:**

> I dont even know what this mess is- also I’m not sure if this is ooc or not, but its fanfiction right? Haha kidding i just can’t write.
> 
> The ending (and honestly most of it) is a bit sloppy and not the best but i wasn’t really sure how to end it, so. 
> 
> Also i know Frosta is amazing, and she honestly deserves so much respect, but at the same time she is a (10? 11?) year old girl and i wanted to show that, and i hope I got the right balance of the fact that she is absolutely not just some child- and i could go on all day about how when kids say they want to be treated like an adult, they should have to do taxes or cook or whatever, they mean they want /respect/: to have their opinions, ideas etc listened to and respected, which to a kid is synonymous to like an adult when really the just know that adults are listened to and respected (sometimes regardless of whether they deserve that respect *cough cough* looking at you Year 7 form teacher Mr J *cough cough*) And everyone should have respect so it bugs me so much when adult are like: ‘well if you want to be treated like a grown up you can cook and clean and budget,’ when really they just want ReSPEcT is that so much to ask argh. and so i really hope i got the balance of both respect and at the same time comfort.  
> Whoops this turned into a ramble. Pls comment? <3


End file.
